Pakistan cricket's problems laid bare in three-hour crisis meeting over alarming decline: Report

Instability at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), frequent changing and chopping of players and coaches in the Pakistan cricket teams, reducing the matches in bilateral series and the closure of National Cricket Academy emerged as the major reasons behind the alarming slide in the positions of the Pakistan cricket teams in world cricket at a Board of Governors (BoG) meeting that last for almost three hours.

Pakistan’s men’s cricket team, which has won the 1992 World Cup and 2009 T20 World Cup, is currently ranked seventh in the world in Test cricket and eighth in T20Is. The ODI ranking is slightly better at fifth, but it’s been a long time since the Men in Green won a memorable tournament. Their last ICC title win was in 2017 and their most premium batters, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, were recently dropped from the A Category in the contracts list .

PCB holds crisis meeting in Lahore

Worried about the consistent decline of the national teams, including the women’s cricket team and Pakistan Shaheens, the PCB officials held a major meeting to dissect the reasons in Lahore recently, the Dawn reported. The meeting was also attended by chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who was present for about “15 to 20 minutes.”

The International Cricket department came under fire during the meeting, but defended the decline of Pakistan cricket teams by citing that PCB has had four chairmen since 2021. Ramiz Raja held the post from 2021 to 2023, followed by two small terms for Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf before Naqvi took over in February 2024. It added that every chairman executed wholesale changes to Pakistan’s international teams structure, including changing the captains, selectors and coaches.

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The department underlined that the PCB’s decision to restrict bilaterals to two matches since 2021 has also adversely impacted the men’s team. The PCB will revert to the traditional home-and-away series, including three Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is from the start of the new WTC cycle in 2027.

NCA proposes ways to revive Pakistan cricket

The closure of the National Cricket Academy was also pointed out.

The High Performance Centre urged the governors to appoint captains, coaches and selectors on a long-term basis to avoid frequent changes in team philosophy and preparation process. It also added that domestic academies will be made operational soon and positive results are expected within a year.